Archive for November, 2009
Talkin' Trash
No real blog-post today... Just a toon that describes my feelings about my desktop (which, btw, is NOT working perfectly). Enjoy your Thanksgiving tomorrow. Thanks for reading! --Dave Photo Credits: Today's panel includes a photograph from Dave "Coconuts" Kleinschmidt. Here's his photo ("CLICK" and tell). Check out his Flickr photostream, he's got some nice pics over there: www.flickr.com/photos/dklein/ Permissions: CC BY-SA 2.0
Twitter-pated
I, like many, had put off using Twitter because I couldn't see how typing a 140 character or less message about sitting on the porch could possibly make a difference in my business. Once again, here's me with my mistakes... Here's me learning from my mistakes. It was one of the authors from my "Good-Enuff-to-Get-Going" booklist who first got me to stick a toe into the world of tweets and re-tweets. Here is the post from @GuyKawasaki that got me moving forward (Shut up and "CLICK ME"). Soon thereafter, I discovered a thing or two just messing around with Twitter, coordinating it with a daily blog (I plan on outlining this once we get the MyCrow Project, "LOOKport.com" rolling - should be in January. If you can't wait 'til then, email me at Dave@MyCrowEnterprise.com). @GaryVee, another of our Fab-Four Authors, introduced me to Chris Brogan, who put together this valuable list of things you can do with Twitter ("CLICK ME" under the moonlight). The main thing I can tell you about Twitter is this: Use it. Get started, you can tweak "how" you're using it as you move forward. The even more main thing? Don't spam. I've created a quality network of over 10,000 followers* without sending out stupid, cookie-cutter messages. *of which I'm ashamed. Not of my followers, but of my accomplishments. I really should have triple the number of targeted, quality followers by now but I allowed myself to get distracted. This is my formal apology to the 20,000 +/- individuals who DON'T hear from me on a daily basis. Please, forgive me? And the MAIN-est main thing I can tell you is this: Don't get discouraged at the amount of spammers out there on Twitter; don't think the whole party reeks just because there are a lot of stinkers on the guest list. In fact, the more spam, the better! Why? Because the idiots actually make you look REALLY GOOD. If you are providing quality information (we'll talk about this later. Better yet, read "Crush It!" by @GaryVee and tell me what you gain from it), if you've got the goods, you'll stand out as a shining beacon of the epitome of great examples of... you get the idea. Spammers bad. But all that Spam makes the Fillet Mignon look that much more delicioso. Think BIG. Be Great! --Dave
Sales Call
Wow! Today's toon turned out much different than what was originally in my head (it seems there was plenty of space in there for the original idea to get lost). The skyline of Seattle meeting Manhattan had a whiteboard rendition of Gary Vaynerchuk's building, The Wine Library, as it's centerpiece. In adding the freeway interchange (from Houston), I was wanting to have Gary and Corvus chilling in traffic. Well, sometimes we need to adapt. Getting all of that stuff in there would have made things quite muddled. In fact, I went all "artsy" and went for a deeper meaning (oooh... aaahhh), tho I still ended up with a fairly complex panel. Thus, even Corvus and Crow took a 3-day weekend as to not muddle-fy things further (Could be a history in the making?). Speaking of simplicity - and speaking of Gary Vaynerchuk - today's blog post comes from Gary himself, and from his blog at GaryVaynerchuck.com. He talks about the simpler times when everybody knew the business of everyone else. Of course, if you business is "business", and you're playing nice, this is a good thing. Gary's book, Crush It! is one of the four books that make up the "Good Enuff To Get Going" list and I use it as a roadmap for the internet portion of our projects. That said, you'll hear more about him here, and I'm certain he and Corvus will get together in a toon quite soon. "Have A Nice Dave." :) --Dave Charbonneau How am I using Gary's book in my blog'azine? Stay tuned, I'll be writing about it from time to time. Can't wait? Email me at Dave@MyCrowEnterprise.com. Photo Credits: Marc Majcher http://www.flickr.com/photos/majcher/ Permissions: CC BY-SA 2.0
Gimmee 3 Steps
Pet peeves; I collect them - but only the good ones. One of my favs: The pictures of the ultimate successes of the world. These are the folks who got up one morning and asked their magic mirror, "How can I cover up a severe inferiority complex?" To which the mirror replied, "Fold your arms like you've got everything in life figured out and take a picture. Next, put this picture on your business card and anything else that will accept ink." This was popular in the 90's, and fortunately isn't seen around as much lately. But guess what? The real secret behind the real winners: Everybody's making it up as they go. Certainly a person can have particular talents, and yes we should capitalize on those, and sure we can educate ourselves based on the experience of ourselves and others. Even still, the reality stands that everyone in every role in life - be it business, family relationships, or whatever - they're ALL making it up as they go. This means we're all on equal footing when it comes to discovering our talents and our passions and putting them out there for the world to experience. This means we can do something because we want to; not because someone else wants us to or expects us to. Heck, I don't have all the answers. And because I recognize that nobody else has all the answers either, one of my passions is looking around for ideas and solutions from several different sources. I bring what I find back here, put them into discussions, and type out what I find in online chats or tweets. In fact, that's really why I started My Crow Enterprise; as a "meeting" place where new and re-newing Self-Enterprisers can learn from each other, while building great relationships, too. I'd love to hear your story; where you've been in life, what you're working on today, or what you're thinking about working on tomorrow. Stay in touch with me here at the blog'azine and give your input when you feel like it, or simply hang out with us Self-Enterprisers online. "Have A Nice Dave." :) --Dave Charbonneau
